Books for Kids - Historical Fiction

Check out this list generated by our Youth Services Librarians for the Scotch Plains Public Library's annual summer reading challenge.


Updated May 8, 2023
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Beyond the bright sea
Wolk, Lauren
Paper Book
- Winner of the 2018 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction -  From the bestselling author of Echo Mountain and Newbery Honor-winner Wolf Hollow, Beyond the Bright Sea is an acclaimed best book of the year. An NPR Best...
Let the children march
Clark-Robinson, Monica
Paper Book
This powerful picture book introduces young readers to a key event in the struggle for Civil Rights. Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Award. In 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, thousands of African American children volunteered to march for their rights after hearing Dr. Martin Luther King...
Catherine's war
Billet, Julia
Paper Book
"A shining story of a young girl who struggles to come of age and find her place in a world fraught with danger." --Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Newbery Honor-winning author of Hitler Youth * Winner of the Youth Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival (voted by readers) * Winner...
Show me a sign
LeZotte, Ann Clare
Paper Book
Don't miss the companion book, Set Me Free CRITICS ARE RAVING ABOUT SHOW ME A SIGN Winner of the 2021 Schneider Family Book Award * NPR Best Books of 2020 * Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2020 * School Library Journal Best Books of 2020 * New York Public...
Hello lighthouse
Blackall, Sophie
Paper Book
A beloved picture book from two-time Caldecott Medal award-winner Sophie Blackall that transports readers to the seaside in timeless, nautical splendor! Watch the days and seasons pass as the wind blows, the fog rolls in, and icebergs drift by. Outside, there is water all around....
Finding Langston
Cline-Ransome, Lesa
Paper Book
A Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction When eleven-year-old Langston's father moves them from their home in Alabama to Chicago's Bronzeville district, it feels like he's giving up everything he loves.
Players in pigtails
Corey, Shana.
Paper Book
A winning new picture book about the All American Girls Professional Baseball League--written with sass and style by all-star Shana Corey with illustrations from promising young rookie Rebecca Gibbon. Did you know that one of America's favorite songs, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game,...
War and Millie McGonigle
Cushman, Karen
Paper Book
The Newbery Award-winning author of Catherine, Called Birdyand The Midwife's Apprentice tells a heartfelt and humorous story of WWII on the homefront. Millie McGonigle lives in sunny California, where her days are filled with beach and surf. It should be perfect-...
Full of Beans
Holm, Jennifer L.
Paper Book
Newbery Honor Book Turtle in Paradise is beloved by readers, and now they can return to this wonderful world through the eyes of Turtle's cousin Beans. Grown-ups lie. That's one truth Beans knows for sure. He and his gang know how to spot a whopper a mile away, because...
My life as an ice cream sandwich
Zoboi, Ibi Aanu
Paper Book
National Book Award-finalist Ibi Zoboi makes her middle-grade debut with a moving story of a girl finding her place in a world that's changing at warp speed. Twelve-year-old Ebony-Grace Norfleet has lived with her beloved grandfather Jeremiah in Huntsville, Alabama ever since she...
Turtle in paradise : the graphic novel
Holm, Jennifer L.
Paper Book
A graphic novel adaptation of the beloved, bestselling Newbery Honor-winning novel. Eleven-year-old Turtle is smart and tough and has seen enough of the world not to expect a Hollywood ending. After all, it's 1935 and money-and sometimes even dreams-is scarce. So when Turtle's mother...
Three keys
Yang, Kelly
Paper Book
The story of Mia and her family and friends at the Calivista Motel continues in this powerful, hilarious, and resonant sequel to the award-winning novel Front Desk.Mia Tang thinks she's going to have the best year ever. She and her parents are the proud owners of the Calivista Motel, Mia gets...
The war that saved my life
Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker.
Paper Book
* Newbery Honor Book * #1 New York Times Bestseller * Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award  * Forbes 25 Top Historical Fiction Books Of All Time selection * Wall Street Journal Best Children's Books of the Year selection * New York...
The Legend of Auntie Po
Khor, Shing Yin
Paper Book
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST Part historical fiction, part fable, and 100 percent adventure. Thirteen-year-old Mei reimagines the myths of Paul Bunyan as starring a Chinese heroine while she works in a Sierra Nevada logging camp in 1885. Aware of the racial tumult...
The Parker inheritance
Johnson, Varian
Paper Book
A Boston Globe / Horn Book Honor winner * Four Starred Reviews * Over Ten Best-of-Year Lists"Powerful.... Johnson writes about the long shadows of the past with such ambition that any reader with a taste for mystery will appreciate the puzzle Candice and Brandon must solve." -- The New York Times...
The night diary
Hiranandani, Veera
Paper Book
A 2019 NEWBERY HONOR BOOK "A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults." -Kirkus, starred review In the vein ofInside Out and Back Again and The War That Saved My Life comes a poignant...
Coming up Cuban
Manzano, Sonia
Paper Book
From Pura Belpre Honoree and Emmy-award winning actor Sonia Manzano--best known as "Maria" from Sesame Street--comes the expansive and timeless story of four children who must carve out a path for themselves in the wake of Fidel Castro's rise to power.Fifteen-time Emmy Award winner and Pura Belpre...
Rescue on the Oregon trail
Messner, Kate
Paper Book
Meet Ranger! He's a time-traveling golden retriever who has a nose for trouble . . . and always saves the day!Ranger has been trained as a search-and-rescue dog, but can't officially pass the test because he's always getting distracted by squirrels during exercises. One day, he finds a mysterious...
One crazy summer
Williams-Garcia, Rita.
Paper Book
In this Newbery Honor novel, New York Times bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of three sisters who travel to Oakland, California, in 1968 to meet the mother who abandoned them. A strong option for summer reading--take this book along on a family road...
Iceberg
Nielsen, Jennifer A.
Paper Book
As disaster looms on the horizon, a young stowaway onboard the Titanic will need all her courage and wits to stay alive. A thrilling tale from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen! Hazel Rothbury is traveling all alone from her home in England aboard...
Gittel's journey : an Ellis Island story
Newman, Lesle a
Paper Book
Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story is an award-winning picture book from author Lesléa Newman and illustrator Amy Bates.   Gittel and her mother were supposed to immigrate to America together, but when her mother is stopped by the...
The blackbird girls
Blankman, Anne
Paper Book
NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNER A SYDNEY TAYLOR MIDDLE GRADE HONOR BOOK Like Ruta Sepetys for middle grade, Anne Blankman pens a poignant and timeless story of friendship that twines together moments in underexplored history. On a spring morning, neighbors...
Hoops
Tavares, Matt
Paper Book
As seen on the Today show A work of fiction inspired by a true story, Matt Tavares's debut graphic novel dramatizes the historic struggle for gender equality in high school sports. It is 1975 in Indiana, and the Wilkins Regional High School girls' basketball...
Island of spies
Turnage, Sheila
Paper Book
"The Dime Novel Kids are spunky, spirited, smart, sassy--and so is Sheila Turnage's writing. It sizzles and sparkles." --Lauren Wolk, author of Newbery Honor Book Wolf Hollow From the Newbery Honor-winning author of Three Times Lucky comes a middle grade WWII spy...

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